Centre yourself in Thailand
A spa holiday

Island hopping in Thailand translates into beaches, bars and backpackers galore. But on the party island of Samui, there is a quiet haven away from the havoc wreaked by those passing through. And your body will thank you for taking the detour.

It's your party
Hidden at the northern end of Lamai Beach is The Spa Resort - a laidback hippy health spa run by an American and his Thai wife. Behind it, about a ten-minute walk away, is Tamarind Retreat, an upmarket haven of individual bungalows and a spa set in the hills. The combination of these two resorts will make you wonder why you ever wanted to go all night partying in the first place, or at least give you the energy to continue.

Merely standing in the open restaurant when I arrived at the Spa and smelling the salty sea breeze was enough to take away the effects of my last big, messy night in Bangkok. There were wood chimes singing, hammocks swinging in the wind, and lovely wooden boats moored in the shallow waters off the beach. And that was about it. Not much else, really. All that was left for me to do was sit back, relax and let my poor body (and soul) recover.

Get emptied

Like Thailand at large, the Spa is fed by a Buddhist ethos and has absorbed a range of practices from the country's Eastern neighbours, especially India and China. In one week I did a three-and-a-half-day fast complete with colonic irrigation (yucky, yes, but infinitely beneficial), meditation and Qui Gong on the beach at 7.30 every morning (free), and an hour-and-a-half of Iyengar or Integral yoga every day (250 Baht, or $4). I also had a daily Thai or relaxation massage, an aloe vera body wrap, clay and herbal clay facials, numerous soaks in a herbal steam room, reflexology and reiki, as well as two sessions of hypnotherapy to give up smoking (it worked). I learnt about chakras, positive energy and how to meditate. Now, I'm veritably hooked on the roots-and-twigs lifestyle I once scoffed at.

Combined with lying in hammocks, a wee bit of reading, swimming and sunbathing, my days were full. The fast (about $120 for three-and-a-half days) involved a rigorous programme of detox and liver flush drinks, herbal supplements, broth soup and a colema once a day to flush out the colon - carried out in the privacy of my own bungalow after an instruction video. I hadn't intended to fast, and I certainly hadn't intended to allow 16 litres of water mixed with vinegar and coffee to be flushed daily through my colon, but everybody else seemed to be doing it and so in the great tradition of peer pressure I gave it a try. By day two I was getting bored of constant trips to the toilet. By day three I was looking a little thin in the face. But I felt lively and truly cleansed by the end of it, and when I got back to London I was bouncing off the walls with energy - much to the irritation of my un-cleansed friends.

A wonderful life

As well as the Thai staff, there is a little community of extremely pleasant westerners dotted all over the island who offer alternative therapies, even astrological readings, all for around $25 an hour and contactable via the Spa's restaurant - my hypnotherapist was a thirty-something English woman who used to be in marketing but had lived on the island for a year with her inventor-boyfriend. The all-vegetarian food is surprisingly tasty - even for meat-eaters - and there are loads of independent travellers on hand for company. Despite the shortage of dance music and tequila slammers, I found that a few laughs at life over coconut milk with fellow fasters was enough to keep me entertained in the evenings.

Nothing is perfect: Samui is a party island, and a little trek up Lamai beach revealed a few red-faced and unhappy westerners and piles of rubbish amidst the friendly cafes. The lack of nurturing of this beautiful island was distressing and seems to have rubbed off somewhat on the Spa: it could do with redecorating and has perhaps been resting on its reputation for its fasting programmes for too long, making the staff at times complacent and non-attentive. This is where the Tamarind Retreat comes in, either to stay or to visit. It's only ten minutes' walk from the Spa, so you could easily divide your time between the two.

Affordable luxury

Whereas the bungalows at the Spa start at 250 Baht a night ($4), the cheapest here is just under $50 a night. There's no restaurant, so it never gets noisy - instead you get a classy kitchen in your bungalow, and they provide you with breakfast and a basket of fruit every day. There's a lovely herbal steam room set into rock, a cool natural plunge pool complete with mini waterfall and a canopied area where you can help yourself to herbal tea or cold water. Then move on up to the circular massage parlours. Here, surrounded by woodland and soothed by calming music, I had a vigorous two-hour Thai massage, a wild mint foot massage and a Khamin and Prai facial. The packages of treatments are nearer western prices, but stunning all the same.

Caroline Sylge